Essays on trans, intersex, cis and other persons and topics from a trans perspective.......All human life is here.

This site is the most comprehensive on the web devoted to trans history and biography. Well over 1400 persons worthy of note, both famous and obscure, are discussed in detail, and many more are mentioned in passing.)

There is a detailedIndexarranged by vocation, doctor, activist group etc.

In addition to this most articles have one or more labels at the bottom. Click one to go to similar persons. There is a full list of labels at the bottom of the page. There is also a search box at the top left. Enjoy exploring!

Pages

30 December 2014

In the 1980s when Thatcher was UK Prime Minister, and perhaps in reaction to her predecessor as Conservative leader whose homosexuality was an open secret, she caused to be enacted Section 28 of the Local Government Act 1986 to inhibit positive statements about homosexuality, and without saying so transsexuality. This was not the only similarity of Thatcher to Putin, and it not the only homophobic action of the Thatcher government. At the same as this opposition to adults joining in consensual loving, there was, we now know, an acceptance or at least a looking the other way with regard to predatory paedophilia. 1) Jimmy Savile, now posthumously openly revealed as such a paedophile, was a close friend of Thatcher, and she tried and tried again against official advice, based on reports of his sexual activities, until she obtained a knighthood for him, and he was a frequent guest at Chequers, the official residence of the Prime Minister, especially at New Year’s Eve. 2) Peter Morrison, scion of a dynasty connected to the Conservative party for many generations, inherited the Isle of Islay in the Hebrides where the Thatchers were invited guests year after year. Peter became MP for Chester, and after Thatcher became PM he was given various government jobs, became deputy chairman of the Conservative Party, was given a knighthood and became Thatcher’s Parliamentary private Secretary. By then his interests in young boys were known and now (he died in 1995) he is regarded as a central figure in the North Wales child abuse scandal. C) Now the story is coming out that a VIP sex party ring, which included a yet unnamed Conservative minister, actually killed at least 3 boys in the 1980s. We knew at the time that the Thatcherites were a bunch of hypocrites but it is still surprising how far it went.

___________________________

In my article about Catherine McGregor I mentioned the support that she got from Prime Minister Tony Abbott. This does not mean that Abbot is supportive of transsexuals. In fact he is known for his fierce opposition to equal marriage despite his sister being lesbian. And in his Australia, Tori Johnson, the heroic cafe manage in Sydney who lost his life in December’s siege, was a second-class citizen in that he was unable to marry his partner of 14 years. Abbott is supportive of Catherine because she is a mate going back many years. There is something similar in the position of Ayla Holdom in Britain’s RAF. While trans persons are permitted in all the UK’s services, Ayla Holdom does seem to get special attention because she is a mate of William Windsor, an hereditary prince.

___________________________

Articles continue to pop up in the press and on-line re persons who transition and then regret and even detransition (change back). While many of such articles attempt to spin the facts to suggest that transition is not a good idea, it is interesting that so many mention Alan Finch who reverted 17 years ago, and who has long since dropped out of the public eye. Example, another. The reason that Finch is mentioned again and again is that the percentage of transsexuals who revert is actually rather low, and it is difficult for the anti-transsexual polemicists to find recent examples. As is true of so many aspects of the history of transgender, the most comprehensive list of persons who reverted is found on this site which lists 32 such, persons who reverted for quite a variety of reasons. Given that over 1000 persons are discussed in some detail, this suggests that less than 3% do in fact revert.Charles Kane reverted in 2004 giving a sort-of reason:

"In fact, I found being a woman rather shallow and limiting. So much depends on your appearance, at the expense of everything else. I wasn't interested in shopping. My female friends would spend hours shopping for clothes, trying on different outfits. But having been a man I knew exactly what would suit me and appeal to men. I could walk into a shop and be out again in five minutes with the right dress. Nor have I ever been interested in celebrity magazines or the things that interest other women, but when I tried to talk to men about blokey things they didn't take me seriously.”

Which leaves some of us appalled about his conception of womanhood. There are loads and loads of women who are not at all described by that, and in fact it would be an insult to describe them in such terms. I included a person in my Year End Part 2 this year who wants the NHS to pay for a reversal because she finds heels and make-up exhausting. She, like Kane, should explore some the intriguing and delightful ways of being a woman that do not include high heels or make-up or stereotyped behaviour.
________________

It is with chagrin that I note that The Danish Girl film has been resurrected. They have switched from a cis-female to a cis-male actor for the part of ‘Lili Elbe’ - the very idea of using a trans actor seems to be totally alien to the production. Likewise the idea of using a trans writer. The following is the first line of the story description from IMDB: “Inspired by the true story of Danish painter Einar Wegener and his California-born wife”. Gerda Wegener was Danish. The story cannot be true if she is anything else. The film is fact-free and transsexual-free. It will be a film to avoid.

What is that you say: Gerda was from California in the novel by David Ebershoff. Yes I know that. He also has her have a first husband and child before meeting Wegener. In the true story, she was a pastor’s daughter and married Wegener at age 18. Hardly time to get in a first marriage. There is a tradition of filming trans stories by filming a novel ‘inspired’ by the story instead of using the original story – examples: Psycho, M Butterfly. This is not a good tradition. If they had in fact filmed the ‘true story’ they could have saved paying a fee to Ebershoff.

Charlotte Goiar, whose instincts about what is good for transsexuals are always somewhat askew, was excited when Nicole Kidman was announced for the part, and is still proclaiming “Nicole Kidman will reportedly play the world's first reported case of a woman born with Harry Benjamin Syndrome … based on the true story”. !!!

___________________

I put together the list of books in Part 10 partly by going to Amazon and entering ‘transgender’ as a subject. This was dispiriting in that for every book of interest there were at least 10 that treat trans topics as if they are a fetish: forced femininity etc. While such books are an established tradition going back to the 1950s and earlier, one would have hoped that with the present-day opportunities for real life transgender such books would be no longer required. I suppose that the existence of the books is an indication that many, maybe most, trans people remain crossdreamers, and maybe other terms are required.

____________________

Let us return to the quote from Sheila Jeffreys on ABC Radio’s Sunday Night Safran which I mentioned in Part 5:

“Transgenderism for men is about the right to imitate and pretend to be members of the subordinate class even though they are members of – biologically and were brought up in – the superior class. That was problematic for the black and white minstrels. It’s problematic generally when a group of people claim to be another group of subordinate people.”

Whilst this is an Australian academic speaking on Australian radio, this does not seem to address the Australian experience at all. Without saying so, it seems to be addressing the tradition of blackface in the US. However in the middle is a reference to the “black and white minstrels”. The Black and White Minstrels was sing-a-long show on BBC television from 1958-78. An academic should know better than to mix up cultures like that. There is the same mishmash on p37 of her new book. (It is just as well that she is ignorant of the part that US minstrels shows played in the evolution of glamour drag – as I have commented about Janice Raymond’s comments on Jan Morris, the quality of research in transphobic books is usually rather low.)

Archives

The Sexual Minority Archives, Northampton, Massachusetts, curated by Bet Power, is fundraising to buy the house where it is located. It gained a University of Massachusetts Creative Economy Initiatives Fund grant and also gained Federal Non-profit status. It will be the home of the Leslie Feinberg Library.

$£¥ € Helen King. The One-Sex Body on Trial: The Classical and Early Modern Evidence (The History of Medicine in Context). Ashgate Pub Co, 2014. A re-evaluation of Thomas Laqueur's Making Sex: Body and Gender from the Greeks to Freud.

Jenny Nordberg. The Underground Girls of Kabul. Virago, 2014. Newsarticle. Afghan families turn a girl into a boy for fear of being shunned thanks to their inability to have sons and to create a useful pair of extra hands in a society where girls are kept behind closed doors at all times.

Taline Mare. A Trans Popstar's World: When Life Dreams and Being Transgender Collide. Kindle, 2014.

Snow McNally. The Transition Process. Kindle, 2014.

Carollyn Olson. More Tricks of the Trade -- A Beginners Guide To Cross Dressing. Kindle, 2014.

Michelle Spicer. The Transgender Handbook, Lulu, 2014.

Dean Thornton (ed). Letters for my Sisters. Transgress Press, 2014. "If you could write just one letter to someone who is beginning their gender transition or to your younger, pre-transition self, what would you say?" 35 trans women answer.

Elliott Deline. Show Trans: A nonfiction Novel. Createspace, 2014. About trans male sexuality and how trans people are pushed to become 'spectacles,' examining DeLine's experiences with sex addiction, sex work, and navigating the MSM scene

Suzanne Falkiner. Eugenia: A Man. Xou Pty Ltd, 2014. The life of Harry Crawford, who was convicted in 1919 of his wife's murder, and demonized as a 'man-woman'. There has previously been a film I, Eugenia, and a play, Eugenia, but that is not reason to continue putting his pre-transition name in the very title of the book.

Jargon

Cisplaining - To explain, without ever having felt the necessity to investigate the issue, that there are only two genders which are fixed and invariable for every individual at birth. Usually assumes equal lack of introspection on the part of transgender people who are likely to have spent their whole life questioning what gender means. The cisplainer is often shocked and angry when their cisplanation is not taken as absolute fact, criticized or even rejected altogether. Urban Dictionary.

SWERF - Acronym for "Sex Worker Exclusionary Radical Feminist". A person who espouses to be a feminist but who does not believe that women engaged in ANY form of voluntary sex work should be included in the fight for equality, especially in employment or salary parity. This rabid exclusion of an entire class of women is usually a belief based on misplaced uptight morality. Urban Dictionary.

Transface - When a transgender character in a movie or television show is portrayed by a non-transgender man or woman. Considered to be offensive by some transgender people, analogous to blackface portrayals of people of African descent. Modified from Urban Dictionary.

Dead Name - The birth name of somebody who has changed their name. Most commonly attributed to trans people, but can be attributed to any person who has changed their name. (sometimes written as two words: dead name). It has not caught on re the maiden name of a married woman. Modified from Urban Dictionary.

trans*sexual – as the * in trans* = vestite or gender or sexual, to put the * in the middle of trans*sexual is to lose the plot.

Magazines and newspapers:

Kate Stone, after surviving being gored by a stag, was dismayed by the cavalier way that her past personal life had been featured in some newspapers while she was still in a coma. The Press Complaints Commission accepted her complaint, and six newspapers agreed to amend their online stories.

Joycelyn Elders & Alana M. Steinman (co-chairs). San Francisco State University's Department of Political Science – Palm Center. Report of the Transgender Military Service Commission. Concludes that there is no compelling medical reason for the US military to continue its ban on transgender service members. Newsarticle. Report.

Human Rights Watch. 'I’m Scared to Be a Woman': Human Rights Abuses Against Transgender People in Malaysia, September 2014. ReportSummary.

Lisette Kuyper & Ciel Wijsen. "Gender Identities and Gender Dysphoria in the Netherlands". Archives of Sexual Behavior, 43, 2, February 2014: 377-385. Abstract. "Results showed that 4.6% of the natal men and 3.2% of the natal women reported an ambivalent gender identity (equal identification with other sex as with sex assigned at birth) and 1.1% of the natal men and 0.8% of the natal women reported an incongruent gender identity (stronger identification with other sex as with sex assigned at birth). "

Talia Mae Bettcher. "When Selves Have Sex: What the Phenomenology of Trans Sexuality Can Teach About Sexual Orientation". Journal of Homosexuality, 61, 5, Apr 2014: 605-620. Abstract. "This erotic experience of self is necessary for other-directed gendered desire, where the two are bound together and mutually informing. One consequence of the theory is that the controversial notion of “autogynephilia” is rejected. Another consequence is that the distinction between gender identity and sexual orientation is softened."

Internet

Facebook decided that legal names would be required on profiles which affected a variety of users. Drag queens made the most fuss until the policy was reversed. "Facebook has offered a genuine apology and agreed that our real names are the ones we make for ourselves".

Jaden Remy joined private Facebook group All Transmen Know Each Other. His name and photograph were taken to sell prosthetic penises. When he objected he was banned and blocked.

Photographs of the aging from Home of the Golden Gays, Pasay, Philippines.

Paola Revenioti exhibited her photographs at East London’s George and Dragon gay bar, 19 October-3 November 2013. In November 2014 the collection was shown in Cyprus, where the exhibition was raided by the police on TDOR after one complaint was received.

Reinas de Quito, photographs by Raul Chacon of Quito's drag queens at the Centro de Arte Contemporáneo.

Zackary Drucker and Rhys Ernst, transitioning in opposite directions, had their photographs of their transitions exhibited as part of Biennial 2014 at The Whitney Museum of American Art from March 7 to May 25.

Radio

Stephanie Hirst, presenter of a breakfast show on Capital FM Yorkshire, is in transition. More.

Kimberly Ray and Barry Beck, hosts of the The Breakfast Buzz on 98.9 FM, WBZA, Rochester, New York, "“you’re probably a nut job to begin with” if you’re seeking reassignment surgery. They were fired a day later. In September they had a new afternoon show on 95.1 The Brew.

The Rush Limbaugh Program, May 29, 2014. A woman, Tina, objects to his linking of same-sex marriage and trans rights, he pretends not to know that 'tranny' is controversial, and he asks how a trans woman might 'trick' a man into having sex. NewsArticle.

Trans playing trans

Brothers. Dir/scr: Emmett Lundberg, with Emmett Lundberg as Jack, Jamie Casbon as Davyn, Hudson Karkowski as Aiden and Will Krisanda as Max. US 8 episodes 2014. A web series about four trans-masculine friends in Brooklyn. IMDBNewsArticle.

Emmerdale. UK ITV 1972 – now. Long-running soap recruited Samantha Valentine for one day's work as a barmaid in a scene where women compete to get other women's phone numbers leading up to the punch line: ‘That’s not fair, that’s a he not a she’. With the help of Press for Change, Valentine complained and the scene was cut.

Sense8. Dir/scr: The Wachowskis and others. US Netflix 2015. Wikipedia. IMDB. Includes scenes shot at the Fresh Meat Festival in San Francisco.

Cis playing trans

Carlotta. Dir: Samantha Lang, scr: David Hannam, with Jessica Marais as Carlotta and Kai Lewins as Richard (young Carlotta). Australia ABC1 19 June 2014. A drama based on the life of Sydney showgirl Carlotta. It is ironic that Carlotta, who pioneered trans playing trans in 1973, is now portrayed by a cis actor. Drag artist Courtney Act had been initially announced for the part. IMDBNewsarticle.

The Centre, Created by Marian Cullen & Warren Meyler, with Gary Cooke as Nuala Mooney. Ireland RTE2 1 season 6 episodes 2014. A comedy set in a community centre in north Dublin with Nuala as a stereotyped trans character played for laughs. Travellers and Muslims are also laughed at. IMDBNewsarticleNewsarticleTENI.

On 11 August 2014 BBC's Newsnightattempted to set a discussion re the boxing promoter and UKIP candidate, Kellie Maloney, who had recently come out as trans. They approached some feminists such as Julie Bindel and Sarah Ditum, but based on previous experience none of them would have anything to do with the topic. Therefore Newsnight settled on two trans women and one trans man: Miranda Yardley, Paris Lees and Fred McConnell. Paris took umbrage with the lineup and tweeted that she was “not prepared to enter into a fabricated debate about trans people’s right to exist/express themselves". Fred tweeted that it was a “TERF-filled trap”. Then Newsnight had to inform Miranda that the proposed session was cancelled. Miranda's version.

Panti Bliss, Dublin, appeared on RTÉ's The Saturday Night Show with Brendan O'Connor where they discussed homophobia and Panti alleged that some individuals (David Quinn, founder of the Iona Institute, Irish Times columnists John Waters and Breda O’Brien, and Institute members Dr Patricia Casey, Dr John Murray and Ms Maria Steen) involved in Irish journalism were homophobic. Those mentioned threatened RTÉ and Panti with legal action. RTÉ subsequently removed that section of the interview from their online archive. On 25 January episode of the Saturday Night Show, O'Connor issued a public apology on behalf of RTÉ to those mentioned by O'Neill in the interview held two weeks previously. RTÉ paid €85,000 to those named. On 1 February 2014, Panti gave a speech at the Abbey Theatre in response which garnered over 200,000 views in two days. As of March 2014 the video has over 600,000 views.

Pointless. BBC game show. Stephanie, a contestant, was met by transphobic Tweets. Richard Osman, co-host, Tweeted in her defence.

Rafalala, a 'transsexual poet' and Artur Zawisza, leader of Poland's far-right National Movement, were on a live TV show on Polsat News. Zawisza stormed out when she threw water in his face after he called her a "whore".

Stephen Fry's Out There in which Stephen visits LGBT persons around the world. Part 2 in India features Hijras.

Transphobic

Aab Tak, Pakistan opened transmission with ‘Ladies, Gentlemen and She-males’, and then the show Khufia bullied trans persons on the streets of Karachi. Ansar Burney, "human right activist and physician" said trans is "psychological misbehaviour" and that trans persons could be agents of foreign countries.Michelle Demishevich, Turkey's only openly trans broadcaster was fired.

On a Stool at the End of the Bar. Dir: Michael Parva scr: Robert Callely, with Antoinette Thornes as Chris, living in stealth with three teenagers and a boyfriend of 10 years. Nov 30 – Dec 14 off-Broadway’s 59E59 Theatres.

Jo Clifford has adapted Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (opening in February) and several of her plays are being revived by other thespians.

Cis Playwrights & Actors Exploring Gender Options

Hamlet. Dir: Sarah Frankcom, scr: William Shakespeare, with Maxine Peake as Hamlet. Several other characters also cross-cast. Manchester Royal Exchange. Review. There have been female Hamlets back to the 18th century. This is a fine example.

Yentl, the Yeshiva Boy. Dir: Shirley Serotsky, scr: Leah Napolin, based on the short story by Isaac Singer, music by Jill Sobule, with Shayna Blass as Yentl. Theatre J, Washington. Review.

Kava Girls. Dir & Scr: Sani Muliaumaseali'l, with AJ LeRoy as Sinalei, Ninotchka Tingleff, as Debra. World premiere is set for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, August 10 - Aug 25. Newsarticle. Samoan Fa’afafine struggle to start in London's West End theatre.

Hedwig and the Angry Inch. John Cameron Mitchell, who along with Stephen Trask created the musical Hedwig and the Angry Inch, will return to the stage as the titular East Geman-trans-punk rocker after Michael C. Hall finishes his turn as Hedwig.

Cinema

Actor Rüzgar Erkoçlar, Turkey, having completed transition, was summoned for military service, but the military medical board found him 'not suitable for military service'.

Trans Playing Trans

Les garçons et Guillaume, à table! (Me, Myself and Mum). Dir/scr: Guillaume Gallienne, with Guillaume Gallienne as himself and as his mother. France 85 mins 2013. IMDBNewsarticle. An autobiographical film by Guillaume who did not like boyish things, but did like dance and women's clothes. Mother tells him that he is gay, and was annoyed when he dated women and married one.

Cis Playing Trans/Intersex

Une nouvelle amie/The New Girlfriend Dir/scr: Francois Ozon short story by Ruth Rendell, with Romain Duris as widowed new father David who starts cross-dressing. France 105 mins 2014. IMDBTrailerWikipedia

Bruno and Earlene go to Vegas. Dir/scr: Simon Savory, with Miles Szanto as Bruno, Ashleigh Sumner as Earlene. UK/US/France 95 mins 2013. Two persons on a road trip, one of whom, Bruno. is intersex. IMDBWebsiteTrailerReview

Kumu Hina. Dir: Dean Hamer & Joe Wilson, with Hinaleimoana Wong-Kalu (see Part 4 under Provincial Politics). US/Fiji 75 mins 2014. A mahu Hawaiian inspires a young girl to fulfill her destiny of leading the school's male hula troupe, even as she struggles with her own relationship. IMDBWebsiteTrailerNewsarticleNewsarticle

Translate this page

Search GVWW

About Zagria

I have a social science degree. I spent several years in the 70s doing Gay Lib counselling, and moved on to organizing trans groups. I was rejected by the Clarke Institute (now CAMH) in the mid 1980s, probably because I do not match either of their stereotypes, but was accepted by Russel Reid on our first meeting in late 1987, and had surgery from James Dalrymple some months later. I have mainly worked as an IT consultant. I have been with the same husband for 45 years.